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Shocking after adding CYA

First year pool owner and learning alot!!

Had a local company assist in opening my pool on 6/1. After the cover came off I thought I was looking at the black hole. It was pretty dark and nasty. They vacc'ed it added 10 gal of liquid chlorine. Don't think you could see your hand in the pool a few inches deep. Fast forward to 6/3 and progress has definitely been made. On Day 2 the pool changed to a shade of green. On Day 3 it changed to a milky blue (wow!). I used a test strip and saw that my FC was zero. I added (3) 174 oz. jugs of bleach. This morning I woke up to being able to see the bottom of my shallow end (holy cow!). So today I took a reading with a test strip and noticed FC was still zero. I took a water sample to my local pool store to confirm this and it showed my FC at zero and CYA also at zero. So, I bought some stabilizer. They stated to dump half the bottle in to the skimmer and then the rest a few hours later. Then, shock it tonight. I ended up dumping half in and then putting the other half in a sock as I read on a post on this site. I also did another reading and see that my CYA at least changed but don't expect it to be right per mention that it takes days to get a reading on CYA. Tonight I added 3 more 174 oz jugs of bleach.
Does this process all sound legit?

Re: Shocking after adding CYA

You are certainly on the right track! My only reccomondation is to purchase a top quality test kit which you can find in my signature.

Keep your pool at shock level. Also please check out the CYA chart in my siggy and Pool School too, also found in my siggy!

You are doing well. Your pH is a tad high but since you are shocking, that can be expected. If it stays high after you are done shocking, you can refer to Pool School to learn how to lower it with Muratic Acid.

I also recommend the TF100 Test kit. Best investment we made in our pool. Link in my sig.

Welcome to the forum

Thanks for the welcome everyone! I'm enjoying this challenge the pool gods are bringing on me
Butterfly, I don't have numbers for CC or TC.

As for shock level, that part is still a mystery to me. I read the article on how to shock your pool by getting it to shock level, but how do I determine what shock level is for my pool? I thought I read somewhere that I should get my FC up to 10 and then let it come down to Ideal #'s.

I added 4 lbs total of Stabilizer (CYA) to get in the 30 - 50 range hopefully. I'm hoping to get a real test kit soon but with time constraints not sure how quickly I can.

Re: Shocking after adding CYA

Your shock level depends on your CYA level. 24 hours after adding CYA, assume it's in the water and increase FC levels accordingly. Refer to the CYA chart - link in my sig. Again, wait about 5-6 days after adding CYA for it to register on tests. The pump should be running while CYA is dissolving and for a full 24 hours after.

Are you testing with strips? They are really unreliable, especially when it comes to CYA. I'd advise you to order a good test kit. In the meantime, you can have the water tested at the Pool store.

At the very least, consider an inexpensive HTH 6-way test kit from Wal-mart, at least then you'll have accurate CYA readings - there's enough solution for 2 tests, but it will give you more accurate PH/TA readings than the strips will. You won't be able to test the FC at shock level though. For that you need and FAS-DPD chlorine test, which is included in the recommended test kits.